The bars, rods, and welded wire mesh customarily employed for reinforcing concrete are difficult to handle, store, transport, and use. Long reinforcing bars or rods must be transported on long trucks or trailers, which are often awkward to load and drive. Storage or reinforcing rods or bars out of the weather requires warehouses or other storage facilities of substantial dimensions because of the lengths of the rods or bars. The rods or bars must be individually placed in position in a reinforcing mesh and the intersections individually tied or otherwise affixed together before the reinforcing mesh is ready for use. Furthermore, the rods or bars must often be cut to length prior to use. Provision of reinforcing meshes for irregularly shaped areas is often difficult, requiring cutting and fitting of the bars or rods to adapt to the irregular dimensions and contours of the areas.
In the case of welded wire reinforcing mesh, the mesh is usually provided in roll form, and the mesh must be straightened or flattened before cutting to appropriate sizes for use. In the cases of both reinforcing bars and rods and welded wire mesh, supports must be provided to maintain the mesh a suitable distance from the ground or other surface while the concrete is poured so that the mesh may perform its reinforcing function satisfactorily. Mesh supporting accessories are available, but their use adds to the expense of the finished mesh. Oftentimes miscellaneous supports such as pieces of wood, stone, brick, concrete ingots, or the like are employed. In the case of all supports, it is difficult to keep the mesh down upon the supports in a flat condition, as the mesh if not perfectly flat tends to rise above at least some of the supports.